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(No Model.)

H. BISGHOFF.

BAG.

No. 579,123. Patented Mar. 23, 1897.

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HENRY BISCIIOFF, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

BAG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 579,123, dated March 23, 1897.

Application filed June 29, 1896. Serial No. 597,311. (No model.)

To aZZ 2071 0111, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY BISOHOFF, acitizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bags or Pouches; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Myinvention relates to bags or pouches for bicycles and like vehicles; and the invention consists in the construction substantially as shown and described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the bag as it appears when secured to the horizontal tube or bar of a bicycle in the place where tool-bags usually are carried. Fig. 2 is aperspective view of the bag spread open and the apron removed to show the interior construction. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the bag, corresponding; exactly to Fig. 2, but with the tool-carrying apron attached and disclosing the pockets for the tools along the edges of the apron. Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation of one end of the bag and a section of the supporting-tube of the wheel-frame and showing a rubber sleeve on said tube engaged by the bag and serving the purpose hereinafter described. Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional elevation of the button or clasp mechanism whereby the outer flap of the bag is easily snapped and fastened over the inner flap, as shown and described.

I-Ieretofore it has been the invariable prac tice, so far as I am aware, to use straps in some form or other for securing a bicycle-bag to the frame and to fasten up the bag itself, so as not to lose the tools, and I have never before known or heard of a tool bag or pouch for bicycles or other wheels which entirely dispensed with straps for all purposes and relied on the bag itself without straps to support it on the frame. Myinvention therefore is comprised in a strapless bag or pouch consisting in this instance of a plain, almost rectangular, piece A of fairly heavy leather, though any other suitable material may be substituted therefor, such as canvas, rubber cloth, basket-work, or other material, and this piece is constructed with the outside flap 2 at one end and inside flap 4 at the other end. Between these ends and just off the center transversely are secured the heavy end pieces B. These ends or end pieces likewise in this instance are of leather, but they may be-of rubber, celluloid, wood, or any other suitable material, the essential requirement in any case being that they should serve all the purposes of end supports for the folded flaps and for the contents of the bag or parcel, whatever they may be. In the present case these ends are fastened to the body A by nails, though they may be sewed or otherwise secured thereto, and are further held down and braced by a metallic strap 0, which is bent at right angles at its ends and riveted to the ends 13, thereby giving said ends a very firm support without other connection or bracing. a

In Fig. 3 I show an apron D with pockets 6 along its edges and secured to the body of the bag at its edge 8 over the metallic brace or strap 0. This affords a bag which will instantly unfold, as seen in Fig. 3, when removed from the wheel and expose each tool alone where it can be easily removed and replaced. When the bag is to be restored to place on the wheel, the tools are rolled closely together in the apron and the bag is replaced, as seen in Fig. 1. Now it will be observed that the bag is not only closed when it is thus rolled and folded with one flap over the other, but that in the same operation the bag is secured on the wheel. This dual character of the spring-clasp by which the flaps of the bags are fastened and the bag is suspended on the frame is very material to this invention and is rendered possible by my novel construction of bag, in which no straps or buckles are used, as hereinafter more fully described. Thus, referring again to the end pieces B, it will be noticed that they have open circular three-quarter notches 10 in their upper ends adapted to exactly fit upon the tube or bar G of the wheel-frame. These notches are such as to closely engage the tube, whatever its size, and are open across the top to so expose the tube or bar as to enable the flap 2 to bear on the same, so that when the clasps E are fastened down they will stretch the flap 2 firmly over the tube G and thus fasten the bag securely thereon.

The clasps E are necessarily made strong enough to serve the double purpose for which they are designed, and especially for carrying the bag, and to this end I have devised a form of clasp having a stud a secured in the flap 4 by a rivet-plate b on its inside and a notch c on its outside to be engaged by the spring-pressed catch cl on the outer flap 2. This catch or lock 61 is simply a small flat plate inclosed in the circular casing g and is shouldered and confined in said casing so as not to pass more than about a third of the way across the eye h, through which the stud a is pressed from the rear when the parts are brought together, a spring 74; bearing on said catch cl to keep it normally in closed position. WVhen this occurs, the rounded end of the stud readily pushes back the catch and the parts are simply snapped together. The catch d is bent at right angles at its exposed edge to be more easily engaged by the fingers for opening.

Now, as already indicated, the usual straps and buckles are wholly omitted from this structure because, among other reasons, it has been found that straps soon wear off the enamel of the frame and thus mar and mark the frame in a very objectionable way. This wearing action is wholly overcome by suspending the bag across the whole length thereof, thereby so dividing up the pressure as not really to leave weight enough at any point to injure the frame. However, there is liability also to be a sliding and wearing action on the frame, especially when the bag is somewhat loosely suspended, which also is objectionable. I have overcome this tendency by fixing a broad rubber band or collar H on the frame G, which, by reason of its adhesive nature, not only will keep its place on the frame, but it will also hold the bag from slipping on the frame and thus from wearing or in any way injuring the same. A single band serves this purpose very well, but two or more may be used, if preferred, and the rubber surface may be extended as much as desired.

Of course the special construction of automatic clasp here shown may be modified and still be within my invention.

It will be noticed that although the parcel unfolds, as seen in Fig. 3, it is, notwithstanding, dust and rain proof when folded and swung from the frame.

If the band H were provided with soft adhesive surfaces corresponding to rubber in quality and action, it would suffice even if it were made of other material than rubber.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The tool-bag described consisting of the flexible body, the end pieces and a rigid strip across the center of said body bracing said end pieces, and an apron for the tools secured beneath said rigid strip, substantially as described.

2. The body of the bag and end pieces secured thereto at its center and edges, a crossbrace having its ends bent at right angles and supporting said end pieces, and a tool-carryin g apron overlapping said cross-brace and free at the other end, substantially as described.

Witness my hand to the foregoing specification this 2Gth day ofJune, 1896.

HENRY BISGl-IOFF.

WVitnesses:

H. T. FISHER, R. B. MosER. 

